Competitive One Shot

As the name says!

Hello to each of you. I have selected the five of you to be participating in a one shot campaign of reasonable difficulty and competitive atmosphere. You all are the ones I deemed would be most interested in this sort of thing, and also have the largest chance of surviving… outside of my influence, anyway.

So, some details of import for you: This is expected to take some time, estimated 8 hours.
This campaign is in 4th Edition. I need to get you guys the differences between 3.5 and 4.0, but it will take some time to write up.

Optimally, I would like to do this on the upcoming Friday, but depending on char gen time, and things of that nature, it may need to be pushed off.

Actual game stuff: Each of you will be representing a faction, and maybe potentially the same faction. You are each trying to locate an object of some importance and claim it for yourself. You will have opportunities to score Victory Points (VP) along the way in accordance with the faction’s goals. At the end of the one shot, the one with the most VP will be declared the winner. Your characters will be 10th level, and will have the following resources to allocate:
1 level 11 magic item
1 level 10 magic item
1 level 9 magic item
4200 GP

If you are interested in stuff at different levels, you can sell one of your magic items for 1/5 of its value to purchase other stuff.

There is more stuff as promised along the way. Please think about these roles and let me know which seems best for you.

One Shot Roles

The role of your character is the faction that he or she is representing. The character is behaving on account of their faction, and wishes to accomplish a specific goal to move up in stature in that guild. Each character is among the strongest of the entities within that faction, and is almost certain to rise to Paragon status as a result of this campaign, should they survive to tell the tale. Your character has seized the opportunity provided by this mission to once and for all.

Background:
The story here takes place on the continent of Erastis, in the country of Cadalia. Cadalia is a powerful country composed of each of the sentient races that exist in the continent that are currently known. A republic has been in place for over a century, in which the major cities have representatives, as well as the major guilds that are known within republic law. There are four known guilds that are represented in the Republic; these are the Imperial Protectorate, the Diplomats of the Republic, the Scholars of Namia, and the Raiding Party. Beneath these establishments runs the Thieves’ Guild in the shadows. While not an official party, this organization participates through bribery and the extortion of the members of the other guilds. Together, these factions are charged with advancing the cause of Cadalia, and have done so successfully, expanding over half of Erastis.
Interestingly enough, the matter at hand was discovered reasonably close to home, in a series of mines thought to be long since fully extracted and barren. This mine is nicknamed the Hallows Deep Mine, for its barren and unprofitable yield in the last 10 years, despite its reasonably large depth. This was partially due to a surge of creatures from within that hampered the goals of miners. After keeping the mine open for some time with the help of a military force, the government eventually stopped maintaining soldiers that were deemed necessary elsewhere, not to mention the transferrable funds that were flooding into the project. In one way or another, a team of brave adventurers descended into the mine, but only one escaped, bearing news of cautious but aggressive tribes within the depths of the mine. This lone survivor was also told by these sentient tribes that there was a gem of divinity in the reaches of the mine, one that supposedly granted divine favor upon the bearers that maintain it. The survivor claimed to have even seen the gem amidst a glimmer of light, but was forced to run when his team was enveloped by a group of purple skinned demons. Each of the factions, having heard of this news, publicly held hearings to discuss what to do about it. Behind the scenes, each ended up deciding to send the most powerful representatives out to the mine as soon as possible, with the hope of claiming this gem of divine mandate for themselves. They are each also aware of the thieves’ guild, and know that they have probably already made a move to try to do the same thing.
You are one of the champions sent by the guilds to retrieve the gem.

Following are the guilds themselves, and how they view each other.

Imperial Protectorate: This guild regulates fair interpretation and upholding of law within the government. They believe in the concept of justice for all, and that those who exploit others, especially in a governmental setting, should be punished in a systematically fair and appropriate way. In this matter, the imperials wish to know about this new race, whether or not they can be negotiated with, and if so, they wish for them to be protected. This is in addition to gathering the gem. They hope to use it to see if insight can be gained into who among them is corrupted by the thieves’ guild, or even remove their taint from the government entirely.
The Imperial Protectorate has strong ties to the Scholars, who help to scribe and maintain the written word of law. The diplomats carry word of imperial law and herald the benefits of the Imperial order, and share a stance of compassion regarding the common individual. However, they despise the Thieves’ Guild, and live for the day in which they will be brought to justice. They are also wary of the Raiding Party, whose military power they are responsible for keeping in check. Therefore, they fear the Raiders using their power unwisely or for their own benefit.

Scholars of Namia: The scholars are the publicly funded researchers of magic and technology in Cadalia. They are named for the subbranch country that was voluntarily integrated into the country as opposed to violently fighting for it. It is well known that the deal came about due to a recent collapse in Namia’s own military, outside of Cadalia, and the move was to maintain themselves in the long term. Now, the scholars are publicly funded, and wonder about what this new race under the mountains of Hallows can share. If nothing else, the artifact that has been spoken of must have some properties worth studying, or may even answer some of the toughest questions that they have in their research.
The Scholars enjoy a strong relationship with the Imperials, starting from when the Imperials first offered the Scholars not only protection, but a branch in their government. They also have made use of the Thieves’ Guild occasionally to help their political goals, and have a don’t-ask-don’t-tell kind of relationship. The scholars are distrustful of the military power of the Raiding Party, and rely on the Imperials to make sure that their militaristic goals don’t take funding away from research and development. The Diplomats also have a shaky relationship with the scholars, particularly because some of the Diplomats’ function from a while ago was taken away when the Scholars entered the governing body, and the Diplomats also have opposed or even prevented several of the research projects that the scholars have wanted to partake in. The concern had ‘something to do with ethics’, even when the scholars felt that what they were doing shouldn’t be problematic.

Thieves’ Guild: This ‘guild’ is largely composed of individuals who are skilled in one on one negotiations, interrogations, and intimidation. These are also members of the government who have fallen out of power, were cast out by the governing body, or even usurpers of the law who just want to get their way. Some of the guild members just feel that the governmental powers are not effective, and need to be altered, and they insist that they alone have the ability to change the government for the better. They wish to demoralize those who hold the firmest grip on the government, and wish to use any means possible in order to do it. They want the gem to be able to exert their control even further towards their common goals.
The Thieves Guild’s power is felt most in the Raiding Party and in the Scholars of Namia. Both powers offer the best deals for services, and both powers sometimes even agree with the end goals that the guild has, particularly in the terms of governmental restructure for the Raiding Party, and lifting of restrictions for the Scholars. The Thieves’ Guild members can tend to despise the Imperials, who some members feel are responsible for their current position. They are also actively hunted by the Imperials. Their virtues and goals also directly contradict those of the diplomats, and therefore are enemies with the establishment that they represent.

Raiding Party: These are the people who enforce of the rules of Cadalia through a strong hand and a bit of fear. They are the police officers and the soldiers used when martial law is required. They flex a lot of muscle which is kept in check by the Imperial’s forces. Some ambitious nobles also find their way into the matters of the Raiders, as their wish to expand requires the strength of the raiding party. They seek to make use of this new race, and prevent themselves from losing power, should the new race be appointed yet another branch of the government. They seek the gem in the mine to establish new ground for Cadalia, so that the resources of the land can flow into their control, which means additional profit for them.
The Raiding Party understands the place for politics, and understands that it is a tool that can be used to gather resources. For this reason, the Raiding Party has made several ties to the Diplomats, and tries to exert control through ties and requests to the Thieves’ Guild. The nobles may even have relationships with those members of the Thieves’ Guild who once held other official positions. They are opposed to the Protectorate, who in their opinion needlessly restricts their influence, which could be used to do so much more than they currently are. They are jealous of the Scholars of Namia, who continue to get a cut of funding that the Raiding Party believes is unnecessary. They never see the results of such research and projects that advance their goals, and therefore dislike their presence.

Diplomats of the Republic: The Diplomats are the kinds of people that believe that everyone is entitled to a fair chance at life, regardless of background. They are the talkers, the movers and shakers who wish to see things progress as smoothly as possible, as long as these measures advance the good of society. They believe that the model that they advocate is tried and tested, and will oftentimes deem advances that challenge such principles to not strengthen the country as a whole. They do believe, however, that once people have made a choice to commit wrong, they have used up their ‘fair chance’, due to simply being unreasonable. They are willing to take action alongside the Raiding Party when the going gets tough as a result, although they tend to not flex as much muscle themselves. The Diplomats wish to get the gem to maintain the best parts of the status quo, and share the Protectorate’s desire to weed out corruption that influence people to commit wrongdoing.
The Diplomats share some of the core principles of the Protectorate, and oftentimes will choose to ally with them. They also like that they can enforce the opinions of the Raiding Party when the going gets tough for either of the two factions, and therefore make a strong effort to maintain a solid relationship there. In general, the diplomats like having some muscle to back themselves up. The Diplomats disliked how the Scholars came in and upset their power, and also feel that the Scholars never take the time to consider the consequences of how their research may impact the society that the Cadalians have set up. Similarly, the Diplomats despise that the corruption that they helped to remove remains intact in the thieves’ guild, and just want their presence to finally be removed.